Mobile communications protocols such as the 3GPP LTE protocol currently in use have a frame/half-frame/subframe structure. Included in that frame/half-frame/subframe structure are synchronization signals. It is important in decoding a mobile communications transmission to be able to identify the synchronization signals, which carry information regarding frame boundaries, cell identities, carrier frequency, etc.
A number of factors may increase the difficulty of identifying the synchronization signals. For example, synchronization signals are susceptible to low signal-to-noise ratios and fading environments (e.g., when a user is traveling through an area where wireless signals are weak, such as a tunnel) and are thus more difficult to identify under these conditions. Furthermore, identifying synchronization signals may involve computationally expensive and time consuming processes, which drains the battery life of a mobile device.